>> welcome to the "journal" live on dw here in berlin. >> our headlines for you this hour -- the first german dutch troops arrive in turkey as part of the defense of turkey's border with syria. europe's shrinking workforce. unemployment in the eurozone reaches an all-time high of 20 million people, who are looking for a job. >> after a decade of reclusive is, musician david bowie releases a new single remembering his days in berlin.

german troops have arrived in turkey to take part in the nato deployment of patriot missiles on the border with syria. turkey is a member of the nato military alliance and asked its partners for help, saying it is concerned about further deadly rocket attacks from syrian territory. >> dutch and u.s. troops will also be taking part in the mission, which nato says is a purely defensive measure. critics say it is likely to raise tensions in the region already on the edge. iranian and u.s. forces facing off in the strait of hormuz and with the war in syria and dragging on. >> a plane carrying german and dutch troops touched down in turkey as their right to prepare the deployment of nato patriot missiles. earlier, the missile batteries were loaded onto ships. this would be the first time germany has deployed its patriot

missiles for anything other than training exercises. >> we have received orders to get the systems operational and respond to any situations as they arise. >> there will be stationed about 500 kilometers north of the syrian border. they can arrive within seconds of an enemy rocket. turkey has been on high alert along its border since a number of deadly incidents late last year. that is what prompted nato to act. the netherlands, germany, and the u.s. are each sending two patriot batteries and hundreds of support personnel. nato has given repeated assurances that the missile systems are being used for defense of systems only.

member for some analysis, we're joined now in the studio by our middle east expert. why would syria even think about attacking turkey? damascus would certainly have more loose to gain -- more to lose than to gain by attacking a nato ally. >> absolutely. i do not think the regime is considering attacking turkey. that would be suicide. it is one thing to wage war on your own population and another to declare war on nato, which would be the case once syrian missiles land on turkish territory. so far, they have only attacked the area at random with grenades. from a military point of view, this patriot defense system is not really a must, but for political reasons, nato decided to go ahead. >> by comparison, it did not take part in the air campaign

in libya. >> the german government has learned from its mistake in the past. germany is really on the top of nations when it comes to preparing the time after a potential fall of the syrian regime. germany is very active in political and in economic terms, not so much on a military level, so, yes, there has been a change. there has been a shift. the german government has been very clear about wishing to see an end of the syrian regime. >> what about the charges that this deployment is part of western preparations for military action or -- for a possible no-fly zone over iran and syria? >> that is a critique it should be taken seriously. from an iranian point of view, there is a certain threat involved in the stationing of this missile system in turkey.

once you start delivering the first missiles, there might be others to follow. there might be new military demands, and of course, everything happening along the border with syria is being seen as a threat by iran because iran is the closest ally besides russia of the syrian regime. in theory, yes, there's the potential for escalation, but let's not hope that this will take place in practice. >> thanks very much. and in syria, along with the shortage of medical and humanitarian supplies, the united nations says about 1 million people are going hungry. >> most of them are in regions where there is strong anti- government support and heavy fighting. it will food program says it has had to pull staff out of some of the most violent areas and also says the government will not provide security for aid shipments into some regions. faced with these conditions, many syrians are continuing to flee the country. to china now where protesters have gathered for a second day.

anti-censorship rallies, around 100 demonstrators met outside the offices of the southern weekly newspaper. >> that are demanding press freedom and an end to what they call the oligarchs running the country. they decided to take a stand when state censors blocked the new year's message from the paper, which call for constitutional rights. we have mixed news from germany's export sector. newly released data shows german firms enjoyed a boom in sales abroad for much of the year, but things slowed down late in 2012. german companies sold over one trillion euros worth of goods and services by november. that is 4% of on the year before. however, that growth has slowed significantly. in recent months, analysts are blaming weak demand from the eurozone. germany is, of course, one of the world's top exporters.

exporters account for almost half of germany's gdp. investors reacted negatively to the deteriorating export situation snuffing out a rally in frankfurt and sending the dax to a - close. our correspondence sent us this summary of the day's trading action from the frankfurt stock exchange. >> a few aspects of the export numbers from germany were well received on the trading floor. for example, the news that demand from other eurozone countries seems to have stabilized. of course, that was not enough to really lift the markets here. investors are a bit hesitant ahead of the earnings report season, and ahead of a meeting of the european central bank's council here in frankfurt this thursday. good news for the eurozone came in for the money markets. the permanent euro rescue fund auctioned off money market bills for the first time, and at a negative yield. an interest rate below zero. this means that investors are

paying the rescue fund money in order to be able to lend money to the fund. a sign of confidence for the whole eurozone. >> we said in frankfurt for a closer look at tuesday's numbers. the dax finished the session down by 0.5%. euro stoxx 50 down just slightly. across the atlantic, the dow also giving up some ground, trading at this hour at 13,324 points, and the euro trading at a value of $1.3080. the greek prime minister met in berlin tuesday with the german chancellor. he highlighted the enormous efforts being made by the people of greece to meet the conditions of its international bailout, and some 90 of by saying, "we are delivering. europe is helping." >> merkel -- merkel is praising athens' austerity drive and says

the entire european union faces difficulty in the months ahead to overcome differences. >> a wet and blustery berlin awaited the greek prime minister. he was in the german capital awaiting a conference organized by the newspaper, but he also dropped in on chancellor merkel for what were described as informal talks. samaras said greece was still doing all it could to get its economic house in order. >> in greece, we are making enormous effort and great sacrifices to get things back on the right track. we are doing everything we can to regain our credibility -- credibility with the other european nations and with the markets. >> the german chancellor believes the only way for greece to get its credibility back is far-reaching reforms. that has made her the target of many anti-austerity demonstrations in greece. there was no mention of that in berlin -- just a reminder from

merkel that germany's pockets are not bottomless. >> we, too, must do everything we can to make sure our economy grows so that people's jobs are safe. >> both leaders stressed that europe faced big changes, including how to more tightly coordinate decision making on economic issues. >> in a moment, we will have the latest on the wild fires affecting parts of australia, but first, let's brief you on some other stories in the news. the inauguration of ailing venezuelan president chavez originally set to take place on thursday is fueling a growing political dispute in the country. the government is now saying the ceremony is a mere formality and can be postponed, but venezuela 's opposition says it is planning to challenge the matter at the supreme court. chavez is currently in cuba suffering complications following cancer surgery.

>> rebels in the democratic republic of congo have declared a unilateral cease-fire ahead of a second round of peace talks with the government. the move has boosted hopes for a negotiated end to their nine- month-old mobile. insurgents agreed to pull out of the eastern city of goma last month. >> india has accused pakistan of killing two of its soldiers near their disputed border in kashmir. india has described it as a provocative action and said the two soldiers were killed in a firefight with pakistani forces who entered indian territory. on monday, pakistan claimed indian forces had raided one of its checkpoints. >> returning to australia now where firefighters are facing a tough night as they battle to get bushfires under control. the country has seen a week of record heat and high winds. >> this has helped the fires reach what is called catastrophic levels in some areas.% that means that the blazes are

unpredictable and extremely fast-moving. residents in some areas have fled before the fires. >> it is a raging inferno that keeps on spreading. temperatures as high as 45 degrees celsius and strong winds have turned many states into tinderboxes. hundreds of bushfires are out of control, threatening to engulf the southeast of the country and the island of tasmania. authorities have closed down national parks, a first in a country that is no stranger to+ wild fires. even for seasoned firefighters, it is a worst-case scenario. >> the weather conditions are such that we cannot do any act of firefighting at the moment. the wind is too strong. it is just too hot, and the fire danger rating is just too high. >> the fire chief is telling people to be diligent and he weather warnings. >> it is very important that people keep themselves safe,

that they listen to local authorities and local warnings. this is a very dangerous day. >> fires are a regular occurrence in australia, but this time, it is different. officials are already calling conditions catastrophic, and the worst may yet be to come. >> some soccer news now, and hungary and bulgaria will be taking to the field in and the -- in empty stadiums because of racist and behavior. >> the look somebody said both teams must play the games behind closed doors. hungary has been sanctioned for anti-semitic behavior by supporters at a friendly against israel last year. bulgaria was punished for racist fan behavior in a match against denmark. well, severe winter weather has caused travel chaos in turkey, and urologists say there is more snow in store for the country in the days to come.

>> the city of istanbul has been blanketed with snow, and schools have been closed for the past two days. icy conditions on roads, and many residents opted for public transportation, making for some big crowds on the metro there. this is the second big snowfall in istanbul in the past two months. >> i remember the pictures from the last big dump of snow. not a single car had no chance, and not a single person seemed to be able to walk on ice and snow. a highlight reel of people slipping and sliding in istanbul. entertaining for me, but probably not a whole lot of fun for the people there in istanbul. >> talking about the pending pulp -- dependable public services when we come back. we will look at the statistics out for the eurozone unemployment situation -- not looking very good today. an historic high for unemployment, almost 12%. more on what that means for the

eurozone when we come back after a brief break. >> stay with us.

>> thanks for staying with us, and welcome back. >> there are more people out of work in the eurozone right now than at any other time in the bloc's history. the unemployment rate came in at 11.8% in november, which means 20 million europeans are now out looking for work. >> the overall trend is pretty much from the in place. joblessness has been on the rise for more than a year and a half in the eurozone, and there is no end in sight, but it is an uneven picture. all member states are, however, feeling the fallout. >> more bad news for europe and the commission of social affairs. new data shows that the economic divide between the north and

south is growing, and there's a warning that member states hit hardest by the crisis are being left behind. >> unemployment in the european union has reached levels not experienced in nearly two decades. the social situation is also deteriorated. >> youth unemployment is a major concern. one in two young people in spain and greece is out of work. >> we need social investment now. otherwise, we will see a decline in our economic potential and much larger social costs in the future. >> he also said that labor market reforms and improvements to welfare systems could make eurozone countries more resilience in the face of further economic shots. >> as mentioned in that report, young people have been hit hardest by the ongoing weakness

in the eurozone's labor market. in spain, well over half of people under the age of 25 are out of work. >> one way the spanish government is trying to deal with that is it is attempting to improve its vocational educational system, and to do so, it is looking for guidance to germany, which has a successful and traditional jobs training program. >> these apprentices are the avant-garde of a new spanish generation. they are getting professional training and germany's combined work experience and school system. that means they get more on the job training and less theory. spanish training courses of traditionally focused on the classroom, and spanish companies do not usually offer a skilled trade apprenticeships, which are more the norm in germany. but these trainees will not spend all their time sitting in the classroom. they will also be getting hands- on training on the assembly

line. >> the twin track approach is a fundamental change. it means giving equal status to theoretical instruction and practical work in the company. the most important difference is that trainees later moved into a job at that company. >> the first group is to start practical training at the barcelona plant. the company is producing ever more models with rapidly devolving technologies. it needs highly qualified staff. the human resources director says that besides boosting a trainee's chances on the job market, the system also boost the company's competitiveness. the spanish volkswagen subsidiaries moving as fast as it can to adopt a new training system. >> we do not need to start from scratch. instead, we can take certain things known to work in germany

and simply copy them here. that way we can adopt the system faster. the twin track approach has decades of tradition in germany. we will have to be faster to reach the same levels in spain. >> german industry aims to support spain's moves towards the twin track training model, primarily with experience and counseling, but it will likely take a long time to complete the transition. >> for more on the situation on unemployment in the eurozone, we talked earlier to the deputy general secretary of the european premiere union confederation. he joined us from our studios in brussels where we asked him what his organization is doing to help the youth of europe find work. >> it is true that the view presented today by the commission shows that youth unemployment has reached a dramatic level of 23.4%.

it is a european phenomenon, for clarity also. the commission has proposed measures which we support. the u.s. guarantee, quality apprenticeships, training -- the youth guarantee, quality apprenticeship, training -- you just showed it. we believe we need to go further. we have to invest. we need a social contract. it is -- it is japan today that decided to invest $80 billion in the recovery. >> that was the european trade union confederation's patrick issue talking to us earlier. police in belfast are bracing

for another night of violence. city, authorities deployed water cannons for the fifth night of violence in the capital. this comes in the wake of ongoing protests against the raising of the irish flag over belfast's town hall. >> the latest clashes erupted following a peaceful march when some 250 demonstrators from east belfast return from the city center. officers were attacked with petrol bombs and stones while rioters damaged vehicleshets an. >> the union flag -- a symbol of identity for one side and of oppression for the other. belfast counsel's decision to stop flying the flag from city hall every day has prompted days of protests and nights of rioting. >> we want our flag back up. that flag means more to less

than just a symbol. our people have fought and died for that flag. >> public buildings across britain only fly the flag on special occasions. in december, belfast decided to do the same. that was the result of a compromise between unionists counselors who wanted the flag to continue flying and nationalists who wanted it taken down altogether. the move caused anger in the unionist community. some see it as an attack on their cultural identity. security forces have struggled to control the by it -- control the rioting that has ensued in parts of the city. the police have accused unionist militants groups of orchestrating the violence. at least 60 officers have been wounded in the rioting. the unrest is reawakening memories of the troubles -- three decades of violence between protestant and catholic extremists that claimed almost 4000 lives before a peace deal was signed in 1998.

>> just a few days ago, north korea announced it is planning to open up its economy to foreign investment with the help of german business experts. the news came after its leader announced plans to overhaul the nation's economy. >> in a sign of just how fast events in the north are now moving, the american internet giant google has held a press event in p'yongyang that has many wondering what type of business plans the company has in store there. >> very few north koreans have internet access. those who are computer savvy are usually limited to the country's internet, but this computer lab appears to be an exception. the google chairman wants to get a firsthand look at the isolated country's social media, but he refused to comment when asked by reporters. the former governor of new

mexico, bill richardson, is hoping to gain the release of a u.s. citizen. he spoke about a meeting with officials from the ministry. according to media reports, the north korean government has long been in talks with internet giant google. in 2011, a delegation from the communist country reportedly visited the company's u.s. headquarters. >> change of pace now, and the british pop legend david bowie has released a new single on his 66th birthday. the song called "where are we now" is a somber reflection on berlin, aging, and what we make of our lives. he recorded some of his most influential music here in the german capital. he released the new single without any announcement, and he released it on itunes where it became a no. 1 hit within hours. >> ♪ had to get the train

from potsdam you never knew that ♪ >> david bowie sings about berlin in the 1970's and his days living in a divided city. the singer recorded some of his seminal albums during his time in berlin. his three years spent in the city where a -- were a period of experimentation. then the this is all about him looking back at his time in berlin where he had a very strict our lifestyle, living in an apartment that he shared with the pop -- iggy pop, a fellow rock-and-roller. >> bowie is set to release a full album in march, his 30 its

studio recording, but it is unclear if he will return to the stage. he canceled a tour in 2004 due to medical problems, and his last concert performance was two years later. >> ♪ 20,000 people >> finally, in japan, 2013 was kicked off in a big way, quite literally. >> that's right. the nation's top-ranking sumo wrestlers ushered in the new year with an annual ritual of 153 kilos, a foot stomping performance. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--